Welcome Back
by SilentHopeX3
Summary: The Pevensies are back in England, but the one Pevensie that seems to have adjusted best is actually the one who's having the hardest time. Will Susan force herself to forget, or will something change her mind?


**Disclaimer: I do not own anything that C.S. Lewis has created.**

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"Welcome back home, children," their parents had greeted them everyday when the Pevesie children got home from school. But all of them knew where their home really was.

It wasn't fair. It just wasn't. She had been the one who tried hardest to forget and adjust to her normal life, the one who battled herself day in and day out in attempt to leave those childish memories behind. For five months she had been fighting. This inner battle wore her out, but no one except her three beloved siblings could see that.

There was Edmund, who commented on how dull her eyes were fading into. "Eat a little more, Su," he had said. "Some carrots ought to bring your eyes out again." He couldn't bear seeing the sullen loneliness his elder sister was drifting into, but truth was, no one noticed that the familiar twinkle once present in the darling sister's eyes were replaced with a suppressed metallic gleam that shielded her emotions.

Then, there was Lucy, who was so innocent yet mature at the same time. Lucy was the one with the strongest faith of the siblings, but she kept her mouth shut around Susan. After a few weeks of talking about Narnia, Lucy sensed that it pained Susan to do so and thought that perhaps not mentioning their homeland for a while might do Susan some good. All that talk seemed to be stifling and suffocating such a beautiful young woman.

Lastly, there was Peter, whom she had noticed had stopped getting into fights. Little did she know, he did this all for her. All the Pevensies had a difficult time adjusting back into England, but Peter knew it was hardest for Susan. Peter knew why she had suddenly brought all those make-up products. He knew why she had suddenly turned into the one person he thought she never wanted to be.

By Jove, Peter even knew why she had so abruptly turned to those magazines to see the latest trends, and Peter knew Susan's reasoning behind getting a date with some imbecile that didn't even deserve her. Peter knew that Susan was trying to forget, but as her brother, Peter also knew that it was his duty to make her remember again, with the help of Lucy and Edmund. No sister of his was going to label Narnia as some childish fairytale.

Susan stood directly in front of her mirror, her whole collection of lip sticks and eye liners and whatnot lay out on the dresser. She sported a sparkling red camisole with her brand new black skirt.

"_Why not wear a dress like the ones you wore in…" _

"_Narnia?" There was no emotion in Susan's voice as she finished Lucy's sentence. Lucy had been attempting to help Susan find an outfit suitable to wear for her date._

"_You would look beautiful in them," Lucy stated quietly as she exited the room, leaving Susan to get ready._

Susan laughed a harsh-sounding laugh as she lingered over that conversation. Who was Lucy kidding? Susan would be ridiculed if she wore anything which resembled what she wore in… Narnia. Besides, her present outfit was the latest and most recent outfit as said by _England's Trendiest_, the magazine she now tried to live her life by. Last time she checked, England was no Narnia.

There was a knock on her door that was then accompanied by Peter's voice.

"Su, may I come in?" Peter acquired. Lucy and Edmund had both recently tried to remind Susan of their wonderful experience at Narnia, at his command, and the older sister had rejected them both. If this attempt didn't work, Peter didn't know what would. He might as well just have let Susan forget about it all in peace.

"One second, Peter dear," she replied as she went back to work outlining her full lips with a ruby red lip liner and then filling in the space with an equally red lipstick. She took the nearly empty hairspray canister and sprayed her hair once more; making sure her hair would be stiff enough to last the evening. Her date was bound to arrive in a half-hour, and she had to be sure to be ready by then.

She opened the door and looked into the eyes of a surprise Peter. She knew that he never got the wonders of make-up. He had frequently deemed all make-up products as evils luring women to cover up their beauty instead of enhancing them.

"What is it that you wanted?" Susan asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"Well, you see," Peter started, "Ed and Lu and I were… We were going to try to reach Aslan later tonight, all of us, to see if we might return to Narnia and we just wanted…"

"Wanted to see if I would like to come?" Susan noticed she had a habit of finishing her siblings' sentences now.

"Yes."

A small flame surfaced her eyes but was extinguished almost as fast as it came up. Susan lingered a moment before replying. "I… No thank you, Peter. I have a date today, and I would like to get ready before he comes. I hope you understand."

Peter's heart might have just broke hearing that, and he knew that Lucy and Edmund were going to be fairly disappointed. Still, it was pointless arguing with Susan on this sort of thing, so he nodded his head in fake understanding and made to leave. "Of course, Susan. I hope you have a grand time."

Susan closed the door behind him. Why? Why now, five months later? Five months of sucking up to magazines and studying the "What's Ins" of London… She wasn't about to throw away all of her hard work, especially when she had just gotten a suitor, and a fine-looking one at that.

_But not nearly as handsome as Caspian._

She ignored the little voice in her head and the little flutter in her heart and reached for her powder to cover up those nasty freckles that she had inherited. Noticing that the plastic container was empty, she pulled out a drawer to open yet a new box. She tore open the tape without much care until something stopped her.

_England's Beauty Powder. Enhance your looks, and find the magic within you. Feel like a queen._

_Find the magic within you. Feel like a queen._

Susan absentmindedly reached up to touch her forehand and fount it missing the crown she had worn during her days of reign. There was no magic in her anymore, and she sure wasn't a queen of any land. Not anymore.

"_Once a king or queen of Narnia, always a king or queen of Narnia,"_ Aslan's voice drifted into her mind.

She through the powder on the ground upon impulse. No. She did not want to be reminded. She thought she had made it clear to herself. Why, then, was everything reminding her of… Narnia?

"_I'm glad I came back,"_ she had said to the new King of Narnia. Those were her last words there. How was Caspian doing? She always knew he would make an amazing ruler, one loved by all his people, but she couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking about his exact second.

No, she reprimanded herself. She would not be permitted to think about him. She had taken so long reminding herself that she, in face, did not and had not ever loved King Caspian.

Lies.

Right there and then, she caved in. She wasn't going to cry, but she all of a sudden stopped trying to suppress the memories that had built up inside her mind. She let them take over as she relived her moments in Narnia again.

"_What am I doing now?" _she thought to herself. _"No one in Narnia would want to see me like this. I've been so foolish trying to forget."_

Oh, how easily one small appliance could make her change her mind on things so quickly. It was one of the perks of being a teenage girl, she supposed.

In one swoop, she knocked all of her make-up products into a bin and put them away. She quickly walked to the door and opened it.

"Peter?" she called out. _I do hope they haven't left yet._

Luckily, she saw all three of her siblings turning the corner to her aid.

"Yes, Su?" From the look of their clothing, Susan could tell that they were just about to head out to wherever they were going to reach Aslan.

"Is it… is it too late to take up your offer?"

"Of course not, Su!" Lucy cried out before either brother had a chance to speak. Lucy ran and took her hand.

"Your date…?" Peter asked gently.

"Can wait," Susan finished once more.

"Well, then, what are we waiting for? Lucy says she knows where we might be able to reach Aslan," Peter informed.

Susan smiled. For the first time in five months, she actually smiled, and her eyes lit up once more with the thirst for adventure… Adventure and love.

In turn, this made Edmund smile.

"Welcome back, Susan."

"Thank you, Edmund."

Susan knew which part of her mind had won that internal battle. It was the less rational side, the side without logic which believed in all this magic, but for once, Susan let that side take over.

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